Monday, September 3, 2012

Origin of Language

(posted; Etymology page)
I've already wrote about "Tower of Babel".  I came to wonder how we obtain the ability of speaking language.  According to this page, the origin of how we start to speak seems to be still a mystery!  
Oh, I love mystery but so amazing to know that it hasn't been unraveled yet.
I thought this page is really interesting and decided to print out later, haha.

*Quote from "the conclusion"
The fact of the matter is that language is quintessentially a human trait. All attempts to shed light on the evolution of human language have failed—due to the lack of knowledge regarding the origin of any language, and due to the lack of an animal that possesses any ‘transitional’ form of communication. This leaves evolutionists with a huge gulf to bridge between humans with their innate communication abilities, and the grunts, barks, or chatterings of animals. 
By the age of six, the average child has learned to use and understand about 13,000 words; by eighteen it will have a working vocabulary of 60,000 words.  That means it has been learning an average of ten new words a day since its first birthday, the equivalent of a new word every 90 minutes of its waking life’

I remember feeling lovely to know that the babies can hear what their mothers talk to them before born. Well, we know about the development of the brain like this site explains and there might be other hypothesis like the way we can stand, but this part under there is facinating for me to read, Please skip to read this part,  just for my interest (*^_^*)

*Another quote*
Imagine the conundrum in which evolutionists find themselves when it comes to speech and language.  The animal that comes closest to producing anything that even vaguely resembles human speech is not another primate, but rather a bird.  Deacon observed:
 In fact, most birds easily outshine any mammal in vocal skills, and though dogs, cats, horses, and monkeys are remarkably capable learners in many domains, vocalization is not one of them.  Our remarkable vocal abilities are not part of a trend, but an exception.’[26]
For instance, a famous African gray parrot in England named Toto can pronounce words so clearly that he sounds rather human.  Like humans, birds can produce fluent, complex sounds.  We both share a double-barreled, double-layered system involving tunes and dialects—a system controlled by the left side of our brains.  And just like young children, juvenile birds experience a period termed ‘sub-song’ where they twitter in what resembles the babbling of a young child learning to speak.  Yet Toto does not have a ‘language’ as humans understand it.  Humans use language for many more purposes than birds use song.  Consider, too, that it is mostly male birds that sing.  Females remain songless unless they are injected with the male hormone testosterone.[27]  Also consider that humans frequently communicate intimately between two or three people, while bird communication is a fairly long-distance affair. 

PS> I finally got my new PC straighten up for my use, things like downloading softs, sorting out desk-top/ start-menu/-icons and etc, haha. Except the Potoshop Elememts I had with it. I gave up using it, really complicating for me p;)    I had this post drafted before, that is why I could post it tonight. So sorry for this long my taste post; thank you very much for visiting♪

20 comments:

  1. Es gibt viele Theorien dür die Entstehung der Sprache, und sicher wird es ein ewiges Rätsel bleiben, denn wir folgen heute auch nur von Menschen erdachten Erklärungen dazu...

    Lieben Gruß
    CL

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  2. I think language is fascinating, my dear friend Miyako. In fact, I did my master's thesis on language acquisition. There is so much we still don't know and understand about it, and it's something I'd love to spend a long time studying.

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  3. Interesting post. I like the story about Toto the parrot. Great post, thanks for sharing. Miyako, have a happy week ahead.

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  4. Dearest Miyako san,

    In 'The Rotarian' the monthly magazine from the Rotary Club International there was an article about languages too. You will love this part: BILINGUAL PEOPLE are better than monolingual people at ignoring distractions, and a new study has found that the more proficient someone is in a second language, the later the average onset of dementia. A University of Chicago study found that those who make decisions while processing information in a second language are less likely to be affected by emotion-based cognitive biases.

    Hugs to you,

    Mariette

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  5. What an interesting post! Thanks for sharing.
    Have a great week!

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  6. i have always been fascinated, not so much with the spoken word, but with the written word. that we can write something that can convey a message that may be found hundreds of years later and still be meaningful is amazing. :)

    and i always love getting comments from you. you leave the most warm and sweet messages. :)

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  7. Oh Orchid, I love these types of mysteries. The human brain is such an amazing creation. Thank you for always helping to expand mine. Hugs, my sweet friend. Mina

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  8. Another very interesting post - the human brain is indeed a wonderful organ.

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  9. I have been having PC problems as well and have had a hard time visiting the blogs of my friends because it is working so slowly. I am thinking about purchasing a new one but am not excited about it.
    Your post concering language is very interesting. When I was in school I took three other languages besides English and then while living in Turkey had to learn some of the language spoken there for communicating. I've always found languages to be facinating and wondered why there are so many that have evolved and why even one language can be spoken so differently that it can be hard to understand for someone who lives in another area of the country or in a different social class.
    Wishing you an enjoyable week my dear bs. Love you always

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  10. What an interesting post Miyako.
    I loved the language classes in school,had Spanish and French. Of course I don't recall much of it anymore!
    Love the story of Toto.
    Love & Hugs

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  11. Hi dear Miyako. My goodness, what an interesting post today about the origin of language, and isn't it amazing that babies can learn things whilst still in their mum's womb! We always learn something when we visit your blog my dear friend. I hope that you are your hubby are keeping well. Hugs from your friend in the West x

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  12. Hi Miyako san! What an interesting post! I especially enjoyed the quote about birds. I didn't know female birds don't sing and it's mostly male birds that sing. Language sure is mystery. I remember, in college, enjoying learning origin of English language and how it traveled.
    Glad to hear you got your PC straightened up. Enjoy new PC and I wish you a wonderful new week!!

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  13. I find it fascinating that different coutries speak different languages and even in a country the same language can be spoken a bit different in the different parts of the country...........

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  14. Hi Miyako san,
    I think new pc straighten up for your work for tonight...
    Now I've complicating for specialty
    I don't think my think has changed about how I looked your.
    The Japanese speaking are very definitive time.
    My younger son's went in Japan for month from School people for last month ago.
    he was hard to understand to speak
    a long time.
    I hope be back my Japanese with you.
    Arigato gosai masu itmademo otomo dachi ni shite kudasai mase.
    Oyasumi kudasai mase Miyako sama.

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  15. I didnt know that female birds cannot sing...this is interesting information. So sorry about yr pine tree, this is the first time I hv heard of emotional attachment to um well, trees. I do understand...love to see yr photos of guests n good food! Sorry bout the shortforms, the phone is just not very suitable for typing!

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  16. Hello Miyako,
    thank-you for your comments, yes it was hard to see our son go but he was looking forward to getting back to his wife. She is a Chinese girl who as lived most of her life in Japan, since a little child.

    I enjoyed your post, I love words rather than language although I suppose they go together, and I enjoy trying to work out the origins of words or place names.

    I hope you are not feeling the heat too much, our son also said it was very hot over there.

    Blessings to you and your husband

    Diana

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  17. Hi,
    This was interesting post for me.
    I was surprised to know that children learn one word every ninety minutes. I realized students need reading books a lot again.
    Thank you for good informations.
    Have a nice weekend!

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  18. What a great post! I love reading about the birds being closest to humans in communication. I always think so when I hear our birds in the yard "talk" to each other. I had to read a few of your previous posts as I have missed your blog for a couple of weeks. How nice that your former student has decided to teach English. You must have been quite an influence on her. Have a great day, Miyako!

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  19. how interesting to know that birds have baby talk too - I certainly hear them each Spring calling from the nest, but didn't know it was their equivalent of babbling like a toddler

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